Seam protecting means for cloth shears



A ril 24, 1934. c. G. RICHARDSON SEAM PROTECTING MEANS FOR CLOTH SHEARSFiled Dec. 15, 1931 l atented Apr. 24, 1934 oNirso STATES PAT? FFiQESEAM PRGTEGTING MEANS FOR CLOTH SHEARS Application December 15, 1931,Serial No. 581,151

12 Claims.

This invention relates to cloth shearing machines and particularly tothe type of shearing machines adapted to cropping or clipping a face ofpieces of cloth, whose ends are sewed together transversely of thecloth, so that any number or" pieces may be run through the machine forcropping as many times as may be desired without rethreading each pieceof cloth through the machine after it has undergone a clippingoperation.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, shearing machines of thistype have usually been built with a transverse cloth supporting member,termed a cloth rest, for presenting the cloth to the action of ashearing couple embracing a revolving or rotary fly blade and a fixedledger blade arranged on a plane substantially tangential to theperiphery of the fly blade to form the stationary element of theshearing couple, both of these cutter members or elements being mountedin the same pivotal frame. Means have been employed heretofore forraising the cutter head or supporting frame away from the cloth rest toallow the ends of the sewings or transverse seams to pass by theshearing line without being severed or damaged by the cutters. Meanshave also been provided, as shown in my former Patent No. 1,372,978dated March 29, 1921, for automatically dropping the cloth rest to allowthe seamed ends to pass the shearing line without injury. It has alsobeen proposed to provide a protective means, embracing a transverse barmounted on a pivotal axis some distance above or below the cutters, todepress the cloth into a transverse gap formed in the cloth I supportingrest, but such proposed arrangements have not been free from troublesince of necessity the pivoted protective member or plate must pass inclose proximity to the periphery of the fly blade, and consequentlythere was danger that the fly blade should receive niches in its cuttingedges, which of course is extremely objectionable.

As the cloth rest is preferably made of rather heavy construction and atthe same time should be moved quickly to and from operative relation tothe cutters, the use of a drop cloth rest involves a considerable amountof vibration due to the jar and shock attendant 'upon the rapid movementof this element. The depression of the cloth into the gap of the clothrest also is not desirable, since it necessarily imposes an additionaltension on the cloth travelling rapidly across it, which it is desirableto eliminate.

It is the object of the present invention to overcome these and otherdifiiculties and the invention consists, generally speaking, incombining with the shearing elements a protective arcuate hood that ispivoted coaxially with the rotary fly blade to swing close to itsperiphery toward and away from the edge of the ledger blade, while atthe same time providing for a simultaneous movement of the cloth rest toa very limited extent, that is, just enough to allow the sewings to passbetween the rear flange or lip 5 or" the cloth rest and the ledgerblade, but without involving sufiicient movement to require rapid actionin either direction. The concentric mounting of the protective hoodeliminates the danger of injury to either blade, since provision is madefor limiting the pivotal movement to avoid contact between the advanceedge of the protective hood and the edge of the ledger blade and at thesame time there is no depressing of the cloth into the gap rest and onlya very small degree of movement of the cloth rest away from normalactive position. These and other features of the invention will beparticularly described in the following specification and will bedefined in the claims hereto annexed.

In the drawing I have illustrated a simple and convenient form ofconstruction and arrangement embodying the principles of this invention,in which Fig. 1 is an end elevation showing a portion 35 of the cutterhead carrying the rotary fly blade and its relatively stationarycoacting ledger blade in conjunction with a drop cloth' rest and seamactuated control mechanism, the guard member being held out of active oroperative position.

Fig. 2 is a similar elevation illustrating the position of the differentparts of the mechanism in position to allow the seamto pass the shearingline without injury.

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, showing one end bearing of thefly blade and seam protector.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown only so much of the well knownshear construction as is necessary to understand the construction andoperation of the present invention, the various guides, framework, andother well known parts of the machine not especially'concerned with thisinvention being omitted.

A transverse rock shaft 1 supports the transverse pivotal cloth rest 2,which is provided, as shown in my aforesaid patent, with spacedtransverse upwardly projecting ribs or lips 2 forming an intermediatetransverse gap over which the no cloth A travels as it is presented tothe shearing elements.

The shearing elements comprise the usual rotary fly blade a and thetangentially disposed relatively fixed ledger blade 5, both mounted in asingle frame or head 3, so that the cutters may be lifted back tofacilitate drawing the sewed together pieces of cloth through themachine preparatory to cropping one or both faces thereof.

As shown in detail in Fig. 3, the cutter head 3 is provided with abushing bearing member 3 which receives the end of the fly blade shaftand projects through the outside of the frame to form a stub shaft orsleeve for supporting the pivotal side arms 6, whose outer end edges areconcentric with the of the shear blade and carry an arcuate plate orshield 8 which forms an arc of a cylinder so as to lie in concentricrelation to the periphery of the shear, whatever the position ofadjustment of the seam protector may be. The side arms of the seamprotector element are continued to form extensions '7 positioned toengage adjustable stop screws 9 mounted in lugs 10 on the outside ofeach side of the cutter head so as to limit the movement of the seamprotector toward the forward edge of the ledger blade 5. The weight ofthis protective shield is sufficient to cause its movement by gravity toa position between the lower portion of the fly blade and the underneathcloth. The means illustrated in the present form of the invention formoving and maintaining the seam protector out of protective position, inorder to allow the face of the cloth to be presented to the shearingline, comprises the arm. The arm pin 6 which engages rest is suiiicientto a pivotal arm 20 mounted on each end of the cloth rest and providedwith an arcuate transverse pin-receiving slot for engaging a stop memberor pin 22 to limit the pivotal movement of 20 is provided. with arearward extension 20 forming a counterbalance weight in order tomaintain the upper end 21 of the arm in vertical registry with theoverhead guard pin 6 when the rest is shifted from one position toanother. The upper end of this arm 20 is preferably arcuate or sectorshaped, being struck on a radius from the pivotal center of the arm sothat any to and fro movement of the arm does not affect the position ofthe thrust the arcuate upper end of the arm when the cloth rest is inraised or active position.

The means provided for positioning the cloth rest comprises a pivotedlever or latch 30 provided with a short concentric arcuate face 30 whichsupports the rest in operative relation to the cutters, when the latchis in vertical position, by its engagement with a thrust membercomprising a pin or lug 25 projecting from the end of the cloth rest.The peripheral surface of this cam latch, as shown at 30*, recedestoward the center so that when the cam is rotated in a counterclockwisedirection the rest is permitted to drop a short distance from its normaloperative position, as shown in Fig. 2. This leaves a sufficient gapbetween the rear lip 2 of the cloth rest and the overhanging ledgerblade 5 to allow the seam to pass through without difficulty and at thesame time the movement is so slight as to eliminate the jar and shockincident to the dropping of cloth rests in previous machines of thistype and also eliminates any sudden or abrupt change of tension on thecloth passing over the rest. This slight dropping of the cloth permitthe seam protector to drop to active position, since the supporting arm20 drops with the cloth rest allowing ample movement of the stop memberor pin 6* downward until the stop arm 7 forms contact with the stopscrew 9. One advantage of this arrangement is that it in no wayinterferes with the raising of the cutter head when it is desired todraw through the machine a new supply of cloth. The slight pivotalmovement allowed the arm 20 permits it to remain in vertical position,either when the cloth rest is dropped or when the cutter head is raised.

While it is obvious that the cloth rest rock shaft 1 may be actuated bythe hand lever commonly used with this type of cloth rest, it is alsoclear that any suitable seam controlled mechanism may be used to causesimultaneous actuation of the cloth rest and of the seam protector.

In this instance, I have shown precisely the same mechanism forautomatically causing simultaneous dropping of the cloth rest and of theseam protector as that shown in my former Patent No. 1,372,978. Breflydescribed, this mecha nism comprises a pivotal arm or frame 11 having ayielding seam-engaging member ll at its outer end and secured to a rockshaft 12 on which is fixed an arm 13, which swings in a clockwisedirection when the outer end of the arm 11 is raised by engagement withthe seam. On a transverse shaft 14 is secured a continuously revolvingratchet wheel 15, whose toothed periphery revolves by the toe of anangular pawl 16 that is normally under the tension of atorsion spring 17which tends to rotate it in a counterclockwise direction. This pawl isnormally kept out of engagement with the ratchet wheel by means of apivotal latch 18 formed with a hook member that overhangs a stop pin l6on the pawl. The latch 18 like pawl 16 is carried on a lever 19 that isloosely mounted on the rock shaft 14 and the latch 18 hasa projectingportion adapted to be engaged by the arm 13 when the seam rocks the arm,so that the hook latch 18 is disengaged from the pawl stop pin l6allowing the pawl to move into engagement with the ratchet wheel. As thepawl is also carried by the arm 19, this engagement rocks the arm 19 ina clockwise direction until the pawl 16, by its engagement with thefixed stop member 26, is forced relatively downward until it pushes thestop pin 16 be neath the hook portion of the latch 18, thereby releasingthe pawl and allowing the rock arm 19 to drop back by gravity to normalposition. The link 27 connects lever 19 with latch 30.

It will therefore be seen that the cloth rest needs but a very slightmovement from normal position to allow the seam to pass through, sincethe seam ends are guarded against being cut by means of the protector,which is then in active protecting position and yet the objections tothe dropping of the cloth rest, as heretofore practiced, are entirelyeliminated. Furthermore, the seam protector, having its movementconcentric with the periphery of the fly blade, can be dimensioned to bespaced only slightly from the fly blade without danger of nicking itsedges and is also insured against contact with the edge of the ledgerblade. The stop screw 9 permits a setting that will leave the gapbetween the adjacent edges of the ledger blade and of the seam protectoras narrow as n'iay'be'desired. All this is accomplished withoutinterfering in the least with the raisingof the cutter head.

The above described seam controller means cal with that described in myaforesaid patent,

but no provision was made in the disclosure of that patent forautomatically restoring the cloth rest to its operative position and thepresent invention embraces the further improvement of effecting therestoration of the cloth rest to 01)- erative position after the seam orsewing has passed by the cloth rest.

To lessen somewhat the unbalanced weight of the cloth rest 2, I providea rearward extension thereof comprising the arm 35 with the adjustablecounterbalance weight 36, this counterbalance arm 35 being provided withan adjustable stop screw 37 mounted in a fixed part of the frame toprevent the cloth rest when moving upward to normal position from movingagainst the shear blades.

Furthermore, the lower end of the latch or cam lever 30 is extendeddownward a short distance and there is pivotally connected to such lowerend a piston rod38 to whose forward end is secured a piston 39 workingin an air cylinder to closed at its forward end, except for a small ventcontrolled by an adjustable needle valve. or screw 41. A helicalcompression spring 42 interposed between the piston head and the rearend head of the pivotal air cylinder 40 normally acts to restore the camlever 30 to vertical position for supporting the cloth rest in itsnormal operative position after the seam has passed by. The cam surface30*, on which the supporting pin 25 of the cloth rest is engaged, actsunder the pull of this spring, when the pawl 16 is released from theratchet wheel 15, to lift the cloth rest to normal position, its workbeing lightened by the partial counterbalancing effect of the weight 36.As it may be desired to change the position of the stop that releasesthe pawl 16 from the ratchet wheel, I have provided the stop arm 26 withan adjustable stop screw 28 in order to vary the length of the arc oftravel before the pawl is disengaged. When the pawl is disengaged thespring 42 acts to restore the cam arm 30 to raised position, but suchaction is retarded to give ample time for the seam to clear the clothrest by means of the compressed air resistance in the forward end of thecylinder 40, which acts as a vented dash pot to give the desiredretarding effect according to the adjustment of the ventcontrollingscrew 41.- 7

It will be observed that the seam-protecting guard is freely movableabout its pivotal axis concentric with the fly blade within the limitspermitted by its lifting member 20 and the stop member 10, so thatnormally of its own weight it rests. upon the supporting actuating link20 when the cloth rest is in active position, but the arrangement alsopermits the guard to be swung upward over its pivotal center when it isdesired to thread the cloth through the machine between the shearingelements. Furthermore, in its normal inactive position the seam guardpermits the operator at the front of the machine to have unobstructedvision of all portions of the cloth up to the shearing line and inadvance thereof, whereas in previous proposed constructions the guardobscures the vision of the operator in front of the shearing line.

What I claim is:

1. In a cloth shearing machine the combination with a cloth supportingrest, of a cutter head embracing a coacting fly blade and ledger blade,a seam-protecting guard pivotally mounted for movement concentric aboutthe axial center of the fly blade to and from the ledger blade to pre- 3vent contact of the seam with the ledger blade.

2. In a cloth shearing machine the combination with acloth supportingrest, of a cutter head embracing a coacting fly blade and ledger blade,a seam-protecting guard pivotally mounted on the cutter head in coaxialrelation with the fly blade to permit concentric movement about theperiphery of the fly blade toward the ledger blade and also to preventrelative displacement between the guard and the peripheral path of thefly blade.

3. In a cloth shearing machine the combination with a cloth supportingrest, of a cutter head embracing a coacting fly blade and ledger blade,a seam-protecting guard pivotally mounted on the cutter head in coaxialrelation with the fly blade to permit concentric movement about theperiphery of the fly blade toward the ledger blade and also to preventrelative displacement between the guard and the peripheral path of thefly blade, and means for releasably maintaining the protector in raisedposition when the cutter head is in its operative relation to the clothrest.

4. In a cloth shearing machine the combina tion with a pivotal cutterhead carrying a coacting fly blade and ledger blade, a pivotal clothrest for supporting the cloth travelling over it in position to besheared by said blades, said rest being movable away from the shearingline as the seam approaches it, and a seam-protecting guard movable toposition between the fly blade and the cloth rest without engaging theface of the cloth when the rest is moved to inactive position.

5. A seam-protecting guard for a cloth shearing machine embracing anarcuate plate partly surrounding the fly blade of the shearing machineand movable in a path concentric with the fly blade periphery, andadjustable means for limiting the movement of said guard toseam-protecting position.

6. A seam-protecting guard plate for a cloth shearing machine embracinga guard member extending lengthwise of the fly blade of the shearingmachine and partly surrounding the same, said guard being movable towardand away from the cloth about two different pivotal axes, one of whichis concentric with the fly blade.

7. In a cloth shearing machine the combination with a movable cloth restand coacting shearing couples, a rest lifting and supporting cam formoving said cloth rest to operative relationship with the cutters andmaintaining it there, a ratchet wheel connectible with said cam by anintermediate seam controlled connection acting to shift said cam toallow movement of the rest away from such operative position to permitpassage of the seam, and means for restoring said cam to normalsupporting position after the seam has passed the cloth rest.

8. In a cloth shearing machine the combination with a cloth supportingrest, of a cutter head embracing coacting fly blade and ledger blade, aseam-protecting guard member pivotally mounted on the cutter head incoaxial relation with the fly blade and movable to position between thefly blade and the cloth rest to protect a passing seam, means carried bythe cutter head for limiting the movement of said guard toscamprotecting position, means carried by the cloth rest for supportingthe guard out of seam-protecting position when the cloth rest and thecutter head are in active relationship, while permitting the freerotation of said guard about its axis to a position above the fly bladeto afford full access for the threading of the cloth through the shear.

9. In a shearing machine having coacting shearing cutters combined witha movable cloth rest, a seam controlled mechanism for shifting the restaway from the cutters to allow passage of an approaching seam embracinga continuously rotating ratchet wheel, a rest lifting and supporting camconnection for operatively connecting the ratchet with the cam as theseam approaches the rest to shift the cam to inactive rest position, andself-acting means for restoring the cam to rest lifting and normalsupporting position after the seam has passed by the rest.

10. In a cloth shearing machine the combination of a movable cloth restnormally supported in operative relation to shearing cutters, means forraising the cloth rest to, and supporting it in, normal operativeposition, a continuously rotating actuator, seam controlled means forestablishing temporary operative connection between the rest supportingmeans and the actuator for a predetermined but variable are of rotationof said actuator to allow movement of the rest from operative position,and means acting when the actuator is disconnected for restoring saidrest to normal position.

11. In a cloth shearing machine embracing a movable cloth restassociated with shearing cutters, the combination of a rest supportingcam, yielding means normally acting to move said cam to rest lifting andnormal supporting position, continuously rotating means normallydisconnected from said rest supporting means, seam actuated means forestablishing temporary connection between said continuously rotatingmeans and said rest supporting means for dropping said rest as the seamapproaches, said connection being interrupted after a predetermined butvariable arc of rotation to disengage the seam actuated means and allowmovement of the rest supporting means to rest lifting position after theseam has travelled a predetermined distance.

12. In a cloth shearing machine the combination with a movable clothrest and coacting shearing blades, a cam element having supportingengagement with the cloth rest to support the cloth rest in its activeraised position and in its inactive depressed position, respectively,and means energized through the medium of a seam travelling toward theshearing elements for shifting said cam from one position to the otherto allow the rest to drop to inactive position and permit the passageor" the seam, said means acting also, after a predetermined interval, toactuate said cam to raise the cloth rest and support it in activeposition.

CHARLES Gr. RICHARDSON.

